It took me three nights to overcome the fear of injecting myself. The first night my cousin Molly did it. The second night it was my brother-in-law Andrew. On the third night, Mum’s friend Marion came to help me to administer the injection. She has the same problem and also injects daily.

What I have to do is pinch some skin on my stomach, hold the syringe at right angles, insert it into the stomach, slowly push the plunger, and then retract the needle. I was thinking of inserting the syringe like a dart, which would have hurt. Marion said she touches her skin with the needle and then moves it ever so slightly, before pushing it in. She said this numbs the skin, so it doesn’t hurt. I didn’t quite do that. I touched the skin and then pushed the needle in. There was absolutely no pain at all.

The next day however, there was a massive bruise. And on my second attempt, using the same technique, it wasn’t painless. Mind you, my hand wasn’t so steady. Nevertheless I’m already beginning to think of it as routine!